ctAss V. orde;. i.l DATURA. 273 



without danger of any ill effects "arising from it, as is often the case 

 in using many of the poisons for that purpose. The Coctroach is well 

 known, by its deep brown colour, flat body, small head, almost con- 

 cealed by the thorax, having long slender antennae, and spinous legs, 

 the elytra and wings shorter than the I)ody ; the female is without 

 wings. They hide themselves during the day in crevices, &c. the 

 females secreting a peculiar cellular substance, in which she deposits 

 her eggs. They come out at night, and being very voracious, are 

 particularly destructive in kitchens, mills, granaries, and ships' stores, 

 especially the B. gigantea. They 'are said to have been originally 

 brought from the Levant, but are now common in all parts of Europe. 



GENUS XXIII. DATU'RA.— Linn. Thorn-apple. 



Nat. Ord. SoLAN'EiE. .Tuss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx tubular, with five angles and fiye teeth, falling 

 away, leaving a broad persistent orbicular base. Corolla funnel- 

 shaped, with a long tiibe, the limb plaited, five angled and five 

 lobed. Stigma of two plates. Capsule spinous or smooth, four 

 celled, frequently with imperfect disseppiments, four valves, and 

 many seeded.^^amed, it is supposed, from the Indian word 

 datiro. 

 1 D. Stramo'nium, Linn. (Fig. 354.) common Thorn-apple. 

 Herbaceous, leaves ovate, angular, and sinuated, smooth ; fruit ovate, 

 erect, clothed with numerous spines. 



English Botany, t. 1288.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 314.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 110. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 180. 



Root tapering. The whole plant smooth, from one to three feet high. 

 Stem round, much branched, and spreading leafy. Leaves on foot- 

 stalks, ovate, variously angular, acutely sinuated and toothed, large, 

 smooth, shining, of a dullish green, with a mid-rib, and numerous 

 lateral branched veins. Flowers solitary from the axis of the stem or 

 leaves, on a short stalk, elongating, nearly as long again after flower- 

 ing. Calyx oblong, tubular, swelling upwards, with five angles and 

 five lanceolate teeth, thickened at the base, where it separates in a 

 circular manner after flowering, which forms a fleshy reflexed persistent 

 rim around the base of the capsule. Corolla white, funnel-shaped, the 

 tube half as long again as the calyx, cylindrical, the limb spreading, 

 with five folds and five angles, each forming a mid-rib to the five waved 

 pointed lobes. Stamens as long as the tube, and united to it in their 

 lower half. Style as long as the stamens. Stigma of two obtuse 

 plates. Capsule ovate, or roundisli, thickly clothed with smooth spines, 



